The Autumn Of The Patriarch

This novel portrays an aging Latin American dictator whose rule has lasted so long that no one can say exactly how old he is. Told in long, flowing sentences and shifting voices, it moves back and forth through his life: his rise, his loneliness, his cruelty, his superstitions and his strange tenderness. The unnamed country around him is a Caribbean nation shaped by flattery, fear and isolation. The book is a demanding but rewarding study of absolute power and its emptiness, and it is among the author's most daring experiments in style.